In what it describes as a coincidence, Columbus Nova, the Russian-linked New York investment firm that paid $500,000 to President Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen last year for unspecified investment consulting, also hired Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz to represent it in a commercial lawsuit, ProPublica reports. A Kasowitz spokesman told ProPublica that Kasowitz and his partners represented Columbus Nova in a lawsuit from 2010 until early 2017, and said Cohen's brief time working in Kasowitz's Manhattan offices in February 2017 had no connection to the Columbus Nova work.
Columbus Nova, which used to call itself "the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group” but now refers to Renova as a client, is led by CEO Andrew Intrater, a cousin of Renova owner Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch. A spokesman told ProPublica that Kasowitz did not introduce Columbus Nova to Cohen. Columbus Nova, like several other companies, paid Cohen through Essential Consultants LLC, a shell company he set up in October 2016 to secretly pay porn star Stormy Daniels to keep silent about her purported extramarital affair with Trump. The shell company's existence wasn't known publicly until The Wall Street Journal revealed it in January.
Oddly, Columbus Nova is also listed as the organization behind a strange collection of website domains registered two days after Hillary Clinton gave a high-profile speech denouncing the alt-right, The Washington Post reports. The websites — which include alt-right.co, alternate-right.com, alt-rite.com, and other alt-right iterations plus CNNjournal.com and 1-800getalife.com — are not operational, and they were registered under the name Frederick Intrater, Andrew Intrater's brother and a design manager at Columbus Nova. A Columbus Nova spokesman said Frederick Intrater did not register the sites on behalf of the company, the Post says, "even though he had used his company email address and listed the organization."
"Perhaps Frederick Intrater is just a savvy domain squatter!" says Gizmodo's Tom McKay. But this is a super weird plot twist in an already bizarre story. Peter Weber
Police arrested two men in connection with the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry, Northern Ireland on Saturday.
McKee, 29, was shot and killed amid a riot in Derry on Thursday as she was watching Irish nationalist youths clash with police during a riot. Police reportedly said McKee was not the gunman's intended target, but was hit by a bullet fired in the direction of the police officers.
Police described the shooting as a "terrorist incident." The Irish News reports that they believe the suspects in the murder are linked to the dissident republican group the New Irish Republican Army, an offshoot of the Irish Republican Army which remains opposed to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the fragile ceasefire in Northern Ireland. McKee's murder follows the explosion of a large car bomb in Derry in January, which was also blamed on the New IRA.
There are fears that militant groups are trying to exploit political tensions caused by the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, Reuters reports.
Northern Ireland's political leaders — nationalists and unionists alike — urged for calm following the violence.
A vigil was held for McKee in Derry. Tim O'Donnell
This year's flu season is shaping up to be record-breaking in duration, despite a sharp decrease in the number of flu-related deaths from last year, reports The Associated Press.
A surprise second wave has drawn this year's season out to 21 weeks and counting, making it the longest in a decade and one of the longest seasons since the government started tracking seasons 20 years ago.
Despite the longer season, the number of deaths has significantly dipped from last year. An estimated 35,000-50,000 Americans have died from issues related to the disease in 2018-19, compared to 80,000 in 2017-18, per AP. Last year's season lasted 19 weeks and was the deadliest in 40 years.
Although an unpredictable virus, representative for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Lynnette Brammer says this year's flu season should be nearing its end, per AP. Marianne Dodson
A federal judge ruled on Friday that residents of Flint, Michigan, can move forward with a lawsuit against the federal government regarding the city's lack of clean drinking water, reports The Associated Press.
The government is not immune from legal action, ruled Judge Linda Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She didn't rule that the government was negligent in 2014 when Flint's drinking water first became contaminated with lead, but said the Environmental Protection Agency could be sued by residents who have criticized the slow response to the crisis.
EPA employees knew lead was leaching from old pipes, said Parker, per The Hill, and the "lies went on for months while the people of Flint continued to be poisoned." Summer Meza
Academy-award winning actress Emma Thompson joined climate change activists in London on Friday to cap off a week full of protests against British inaction on climate change, reports Reuters.
Thompson joined the group Extinction Rebellion, which has been leading protests throughout the week, resulting in traffic disruptions and the arrest of more than 570 people, per Reuters.
The group has called for nonviolent civil disobedience in an attempt to persuade lawmakers to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, reports Reuters.
The actress said she was inspired to partake in the protests after seeing activists across the country this week. Thompson took time at the protest to read poetry celebrating the beauty of the earth.
"This is the most pressing and urgent problem of our time, in the history of the human race," Thompson said. "I have seen the evidence for myself and I really care about my children and grandchildren enough to want to be here today to stand with the next generation." Marianne Dodson